This article series is about the tools of popular guitarists. What are their favorite guitars and how is it related to them? This time with Andy La Rocque (King Diamond).
When you start guitar playing and do you remember your first guitar?
It was at age 12 and started out with an acoustic, a year later the first “proper” guitar was a Ibanez Les Paul type I think the name was “Cimar” by Ibanez. Got my first Flying V at age 14 and a Gibson Explorer about the same time.
What are your influences and which guitar players are your favs?
First influences were Rick Parfitt (Status Quo) Ritchie Blackmore, Angus Young, and then Michael Schenker, Randy Rhoads, then later Steve Vai and Vinnie Vincent to name a few.
How many guitars you own, and which one is your favourite?
One of my favorite guitars that has been in my possession for a long time is a -78 Gibson Flying V. Except for that I use ESP guitars that I think are exceptionally good, all equipped with Seymour Duncan pickups and that’s what I use live and in the studio.
What do you use for recording guitars and amps wise?
For live I use Line 6 Helix setup, for the studio I mainly use Kemper with Some great profiles from my own amps. But I also use a Marshall JVM, which is one of my all time favorite amps, but I also use Mesa Boogie, Peavey and Engl.
What you think about modeling amps or profilers?
I think it’s great, when you can’t hear the difference from the real amp from the profile you just made, then it’s good, and so efficient and flexible.
What are your influences and which guitar players are your favs?
I always come back to Michael Schenker and Randy Rhoads as my main influences, but also Ronni Le Tekro from TNT, awesome guitarist !
When you only can choose one guitar, which one will you take?
Probably one of my ESP’s !
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